The decision of the Office of the Court of Auditors to refer Cipess resolution 41/2025, with which the Government approved the Strait Bridge project, to the collegial body, reignites the debate on the controversial infrastructural intervention. Commenting on the news is Pino Gesmundo, confederal secretary of the CGIL, who underlines how the decision confirms “the points we raised, also to the European Commission, relating to clear and serious procedural inconsistencies with the current legislation”. According to Gesmundo, “compliance with laws and procedures is not a partial element, as Minister Salvini himself has repeatedly made clear, but is substantial for the use of public resources, as required by the Constitution”. The trade unionist invites the Government to review its position: “Instead of announcing the imminent start of its construction, the Government should withdraw the approved project, which is wrong and harmful for the country, and open a real discussion on how to build an efficient infrastructure system in Calabria and Sicily”. According to the CGIL, persisting on the path of the Bridge would lead to “damage and waste for which those responsible will be called to respond politically and, probably, also administratively”. The union also recalls that a demonstration is scheduled for tomorrow in Rome against a plan of cuts and sacrifices whose amount is almost equivalent to what has been set aside for the bridge, underlining how it would be more responsible to use these resources to concretely support the country’s infrastructural and industrial policies, especially considering the imminent conclusion of the PNRR.
The criticism also comes from the comment of Elio Conti Nibali, of the Instead of the Ponte association, who defines the project as “collapsed before it even began”. According to Conti Nibali, the Court of Auditors cannot give the green light because “all the economic, technical and environmental compatibility prerequisites” are missing. The association’s appeal is clear: “The government must immediately withdraw a project that is wrong and harmful.”